The first gas engine driven lawnmowers did not have a means of ejecting cut grass clippings. The lawnmower deck was a little higher off the grass being cut and the grass clippings would be forced out by the action of the lawnmower blade. This worked to an extent when the grass clippings were dry. However when the grass being cut was damp or very tall the grass clippings would pile up under the lawnmower deck and strain the lawnmower engine to a point it would shut down.
The idea to resolve this issue was to cut an opening in the lawnmower deck to facilitate the ejection of the lawnmower grass clippings from under the lawnmower deck. This worked, however there was no control of where the cut grass clippings would end up. This facilitated the invention of a cut grass ejection chute placed in alignment with the opening cut into the lawnmower deck. This has been the standard for years. This idea was also augmented so the ejection chute could be removed and a device could be placed over the opening in the lawnmower deck to block the cut grass clippings from being ejected. Thus the grass clippings would be cut several times or as it is called, mulched. These finer pieces of cut grass clippings would then work their way from under the lawnmower deck from the force generated from the rotating lawnmower blade.
The drawback with a fixed and rigid lawnmower grass ejection chute is that it gets in the way when mowing next to a fixed object, such as a tree, post or other fixed object. Some people compensate this by drilling a hole in the end of the chute and attaching a wire or rope to the chute so it can be pulled up and out of the way to clear the fixed object so the grass can be completely mowed. This poses a very grave safety hazard for the lawnmower operator as the grass clippings are not directed to the side and rear away from the lawnmower and may hit the fixed object and bounce back on the operator.
A solution is to have a lawnmower grass cutting chute that will fold up to a partial closing, or even to a full closing when the chute comes in contact with a fixed object and then open back up when the lawnmower has cleared the fixed object while directing cut grass clipping away from the fixed object and the lawnmower operator the entire time. This allows the lawnmower deck with the cutting blade to cut much closer to the fixed object in order to cut the grass surrounding the fixed object.
The present invention is designed to fold up and re-open when it comes in contact with a fixed object. This invention is also designed to prevent the grass clippings from bouncing back on the operator by closing off the lawnmower deck ejection port opening temporary.
This present invention also allows the lawnmower grass ejection chute to be latched in the closed position to prevent cut grass clippings from exiting the lawnmower deck ejection port for a grass mulching operation when so desired.